


Repairs

by abbybear



Series: Tony Talks To Himself [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Depression, Hopeful Ending, Lots of tears, M/M, Poor Peter Parker, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), STONY Bingo 2018, Slash, Steve Needs a Hug, Tony Has Issues, Tony Needs a Hug, Tony-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-14 04:17:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14762453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abbybear/pseuds/abbybear
Summary: Tony forgets that when he came back to the compound after failing to stop Thanos,  Steve and the team had come home.  He tries to talk to Peter about everything, but Steve keeps interrupting.---“Who are you talking to?”Tony looks up to him, and--oh.  He looks past Steve before turning to stare at the wall next to him, wiping the tears off of his face with the back of his hand as he stands.  He falls against Steve when he tries to walk past him.  Steve says his name again, but Tony just stares at his shaking hands as he tries to brush off the dust no longer there.“I’m...”  Tony’s voice breaks.  Steve cannot stop himself as he takes the smaller man’s hands in his own.  Tony leans forward and the soldier loses all sense of control and pulls him into a strong embrace.  He tries to comfort the broken man in arms, but all of his rehearsed apologies start to suffocate him.“God, Tony.  I know.”





	Repairs

**Author's Note:**

> Second submission for Stony Bingo 2018 (May 2018).
> 
> Prompt is “Avengers: Infinity War” (space N4).
> 
> WARNING - this story contains spoilers for Infinity War. BEWARE.
> 
> Also unbetaed. Holler if you see any issues. I try and reread what I've written, but...yeah. :D
> 
>  
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing. Otherwise there would have been SOME STONY IN INFINITY WAR. (Yeah, I am not bitter or anything.)
> 
> This is part 2 of 4 (first story is Remember Me). Can be read as a stand-alone, but some of the other Steve comments make more sense if you read the first segment.
> 
> Enjoy!

Tony is really tired.  After spending the better part of a month breathing in Titan’s stale, dusty air while repairing the Guardians’ ship (thank sweet baby Jesus for food rations and strange blue androids who don’t require rest), he thought he would be allowed to take a day (or five) once he was back home.  At least whenever Steve did appear again, looking nervous as all hell and staying feet away, Tony was able to keep his lips tight and flee to his workshop before the nagging started.

After thirty-six hours of unrest only supplemented with numerous cups of coffee, Friday allows Rhodey in without requesting approval to do so.  Tony forgives his scheming bitch of an A.I. when he notices the pizza box in his friend’s arms.

“Oh honey bear, you’re too good for me.”

“Damn straight.  I got your favorite.”  He tilts the box so Tony sees the familiar green and red writing.  Tony nearly falls on his face as he charges his friend.

“Ray’s pep?  Seriously? Whatever you need is yours, Rhodey love.  Sex, drugs, alcohol--take your pick. Or don’t.”

“Tones.  You know what I am going to say.”

“Then don’t say it.”  Ignoring the oil on his fingers, Tony’s inhales his first slice before stealing the entire box and sitting on top of his work table.  Rhodey comes and sits next to him, leveling his stare with the genius’.

“You’ve got to talk to them.”

“No can do, sugar daddy.  I lost that worthless piece of hardware in New York trying to save that worthless wizard.”  Done with his second piece, Tony hesitates before pulling out another, meeting his friend’s widening expression.

“Hardware?  You mean--the phone?  Banner found it and used it.  That’s why-”

“Yeah, you told me.  Don’t need a refresh again.  The planet I was deserted on had oxygen, for some dumb, illogical reason.  I’m not brain dead yet.”

“Then let’s go upstairs.  Everyone is gathered in the common area.  Steve looks like he’s going to start crying again.”

“Hah, yeah right--Captain All-American BS bawling on the sofa upstairs.  Bet that serum dried all of the tears out of him.”

“Anthony, don’t say that shit.  You know what he’s lost. What we’ve all lost.”  Rhodey snaps the lid of the pizza box before Tony can grab anymore.  He grabs the box and makes to leave, giving the man behind him a scowl with wetting eyes.

“Not that your dumbass has tried, but I cannot get ahold of Pepper.  Or Hogan. Figure that one out, genius. Those jerks upstairs may be all we have left, Tones.  We can’t waste this. We’ll need them if we’re going to fix this mess.”

The lieutenant colonel disappears back up the stairs.  Tony looks down at the open arc reactor on his work table, then down to his dirty hands and ripped sweatpants.  He also notices the tear in his jacket where his nanobots previously held his guts in place. Now a thick layer of gauze covers the wound, shaded in a crusty maroon hue.

Lifting his arm, Tony smells himself, nose wrinkling.  He hears Dum-E chirp before he wheels over, splashing some green sludge onto his creator’s lap.

“Yup, definitely shower time.”

Tony locks himself in the workshop’s small bathroom and stands under the steaming pour of water until his skin is pink and irritated.

 

***  

 

Tony forgets to leave his workshop for another thirty hours after he finishes his shower.  He takes a short snooze on the couch and wakes up to Peter Parker shaking his shoulder.

“Mr. Stark, you probably shouldn’t sleep down here.”

Tony smiles as he opens his eyes.

“Hey, Pete.  Are you here for your new suit?  I have to start from scratch this round, so it won’t be ready for a couple of days...”

“No, no.  Mr. Rhodes asked me to come down.  He says you’ve missed lunch. And dinner.  Again.”

“Figures.  Why don’t we go upstairs and grab a bite before I get back at it?”

Tony stands, smacking himself a couple of times on the side of the head before he makes his way upstairs.  He pulls out a carton of eggs and a package of bacon from the fridge (no idea where the groceries came from, but he’s not complaining) as Peter leans against the counter.

“Do we have--hello, Ezekiel 4:9.  Have you ever had eggs in a basket?”

“Well, I’ve purchased eggs before, Mr. Stark, but generally they come in cartons.”

“Shit, no.  We’ll remedy this heartbreak.”

Tony uses a water glass to remove the centers of two slices of bread and warms up the frying pan.  Spooning a healthy heaping of butter into the pan, he quickly wipes the grease off his hands before dropping the bread into the melting butter, cracking an egg in the center of each slice.

“Egg.  Basket.  Watch and learn, kiddo.”

“Tony?  What’re you doing up this early?”

Tony wishes he hadn’t looked up.  Steve’s face is worn and tired, but he has that stupid hopeful light in his eyes as he gives the exhausted mechanic a small smile.  Tony opens his mouth and stops, eyes darting to Peter. Peter gives him a little wave and gestures toward the approaching supersoldier.

“Mission accomplished!  I’ll see you later, Mr. Stark!”

The teen disappears from the room so fast that Tony has no idea where he went.  Steve stops once he’s a few feet from the other in the kitchen, now close enough to see the food on the stove.

“You’re making eggs with a hat?”  Tony nods slowly before turning to grab the salt and pepper.  Steve is already there behind him, pushing the two small grinders into his hands.

“Here.  My ma used to make these all of the time.  She always said the secret ingredient was more butter.”  Tony chuckles lightly as he turns back to the stove. Steve stands next to him as he finishes cooking, ready with a plate when he’s dishing out the first basket.

“Grab another plate.”

“Tony, you don’t have to share your breakfast-”

“Plate, Cap.”  Tony sees Steve wince at the nickname before presenting a second plate.  Forks in hand, the pair take their meals over to the dining room table. Tony drops his dish in his spot and turns back into the kitchen, head halfway into the spice cupboard.  He returns and sits across from Steve, popping the small spice container open and sprinkling his eggs.

“Rosemary.”  Steve nods, accepting the spice as Tony pushes the jar towards him.  Tony hears Steve humming after he takes his first bite.

“My mom--”  Tony fumbles with his fork, cutting into the yolk of his egg to let the center soak the surrounding toast and refusing to look back up to his stilled companion, “--her secret ingredient was rosemary.”

Steve starts to apologize, but Tony shuts him down before he can get the words out.

They spend the rest of the meal in silence.  

 

***

 

“Mr. Stark, are you _sure_ you’re okay?”

Peter is sitting next to him on his bed, holding one of his clammy hands as Tony tries again to steady his racing heart.

“Why are you here, Parker?  Isn’t May wondering where you are?”  The older man keeps his brow down, using his free hand to wipe the wet off of his face.  He can’t stop his body from shaking.

“No.  I died, remember?”

Tony feels Peter’s hand tighten around his own.

“But it’s okay.  You’re not alone now.  I always worried, you know.”  Tony looks up as his door opens.  Steve is watching him with his sad eyes again, saying words that Tony can’t hear.  He clears his face of tears, lets go of Peter’s hand and stands, failing to hold his body still.

“Give him another chance.”

“Tony?”  Steve steadies him before he falls against the doorway.  Tony closes his eyes as his head automatically turns toward the empty bed behind him.  He blinks, fighting the pressure building in ears and throat as he looks back at Steve’s blurry figure.

“I’m…”  He wants to push Steve off of him and head to his workshop haven, but his hands won’t stop trembling even when he focuses.  The memory of his fingers being grey and feathered with dust clouds his thoughts and all he can do is stare down at his blurry fingers.  Another set of hands help him steady his own, warm and calloused. Tony pushes forward and presses his forehead against Steve’s solid ( _real, not gone_ ) chest, taking steady breaths in time with the other’s quickening heartbeat.  His hands are released and he is pulled further into the embrace.

“God, Tony.  I know.”

He feels a brush of lips on the top of his head.  Tony sighs and pulls back far enough so he can watch Steve watch him, slipping him a half smile as he leads them over to the bed and pushes their bodies down to the mattress.

“I never should have left.  I wanted to call. I wished you would have.  I hated spending the last two years away from this.  Away from you. I did not realize how much you meant.  To me.” He keeps his eyes and smile up as the blonde stumbles through his words, clutching Tony’s fingers between his larger ones.

“Are you going to end this with another motivating ‘together’ speech?  Those always make me feel tingly on the inside.”

Steve rolls his eyes, but the smile on his lips gives him away.

“You love my inspiring speeches.  Admit it.”

“Yeah.  I do.” This Steve in front of him is so familiar and not familiar at the same time.  Tony reaches up and brushes his fingernails against his cheek down to his neck, feeling Steve swallow as he takes the back of his skull and leans forward.

He had done this before with the not-real Steve.  Generally it was in a moment of desperation when Tony was at his worst and allowed himself to give into his fantasies.  But he never imagined his first kiss quite right. He never felt the hesitation before the heat took over and _consumed_ him, drawing every last breath out of him until he’s swallowing the air from Steve’s own lungs.

Even as they part, Steve pecks Tony’s hairline, cheek, ear, chin, never pulling back long enough for Tony to change his mind.  He mouths the soft part of Tony’s neck and bites gently, sighing heavily into his skin.

“I’ve wanted this.  Never thought I would get the chance.”

“Just took the end of the world to get us here.”

Tony tries to smile for Steve again and fails.  He leans forward, wanting to steal another kiss from those bright, pink lips before reality sets back in.  

Steve meets him halfway.

 

***

 

Tony notices the kid sitting on the workshop couch when he walks in later that evening.

“Mr. Stark!  Did you two talk?”

Peter is up in a flash and shadowing the mechanic’s every movement.  Tony rubs his hands, noticing the ash covering his fingers doesn’t smear.  

“Pete, why are you here?  You said yourself that you-” Tony eats the rest of his words, sitting down at his bench and picking up the closest tool within reach.  He ignores the hovering teen as he pulls up a new schematic for his nanobot suit on the holoscreen and gets to work.

“I know this is hard for you.  I think you need to hear this. You do know this wasn’t your fault, right?”

Tony fights the rising bile in his throat.  The shade sits next to him, and Tony cannot stop the flinch when he feels a hand rest on his arm.

“You should have never been there, kid.  If I hadn’t given you that new suit, you might have survived.”

“I would have just died sooner.  You know this.”

“It should have been me.”  The mechanic drops the wrench he’s holding as the screens around them go dark.  He will not look at Peter as his ears echo with the dead wizard’s deal and final words before they all disappear to ash.  He feels that dagger still in his belly as a large hand pats his head, whispering the future and promising Tony freedom from the consequences of his knowledge.  

“Mr. Stark, you’re a mechanic, remember?  Mister Strange told you he saw one future where we won.  What if this had to happen first?”

“You can fix this.”

Peter’s smile is so bright, and Tony wants to cry.

**Author's Note:**

> PETER IS GOING TO RETURN. I have hope. I have a bad feeling it is going to be at the expense of either Tony or Steve or both. :(
> 
> I do like making eggs in a hole. That stupid meal has like ten different names.
> 
> Did you like? Share your thoughts and comments!! Also feel free to rant about IW. I HAVE A LOT OF EMOTIONS I still need to put into fan fiction form so I get semi-release from this undying pain / hatred / forever FML.
> 
> :D :D 
> 
> ~<3


End file.
